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CATHOLICITY AND ITS GROWTH IN WORCESTER. 

By JOHN J. RIORDAN, A. M. 



The Heart of the Coninionweahh, 
as the city of Worcester has been 
aptly termed, is a beautiful city. It 
teems to-day with varied industries 
and it includes in its population about 
as many nationalities as a great 
metropolis. Jew and Gentile, Cau- 
casian and Mongolian all brush elbows 
in this thriving" and growing munici- 
pality. But time was a half century 
or more ago when it was otherwise. 
Then Worcester, which had not 
attained to the dignity of anything 
more than a prosperous town, ap- 
j)roaching so to speak its majority, 
was the conservative and model New 
England village, with few exceptions 
made up of the "old families" whose 
influence in the community had shaped 
its affairs for years almost indefinite 
in number and extending back before 
the days of the Revolution. But the 
men of those times must have come 
of goodly stock, for their descend- 
ants to-day are counted among the 
fairest and most lil)eral-minded of 
Worcester's citizens. They have been 
conservative but, all things considered. 
they have not been unfair. It would 
be strange if they should have wel- 
comed with anything but suspicion, a 
people, the first of any foreigners, to 
come among them, and whose religion 
they had been taught for two hundred 
\ears to abominate. To their credit 
it mav be trutlifullv said that to-dav 



ihc descendants of these old families, 
cordially and without narrowness of 
mind or purpose, welcome the Catho- 
lic Irish emigrants as men who have 
in them that which makes good 
citizens and companionable neigh- 
bors. There have been agitations, it 
is true, tending to stir up strife and 
with a purpose of creating hostility on 
the part of Protestants towards the 
Catholics. Indeed, where is the New 
Englf»nd community that this could 
not be said of it at some time in its 
history? But in Worcester it has 
sprung without exception from among 
those who have done less for the wel- 
fare of the people than their Catholic 
brethren; who came later than the 
Irish and who gathered their inspira- 
tions of bigotry from other sources 
and received their training in other 
localities. These agitations, however, 
never assumed alarming proportions. 
I'efore they could do so the sounder 
sense of the better portion of the citi- 
zenship has always made itself known 
and felt, so that what may have seemed 
dangerous in the beginning has gen- 
erally turned out either a shibboleth or 
a boomerang, harmful to its promoters 
and of no consequence to the Catho- 
lics. 

The pioneers of sixty years ago, the 
first to settle in Worcester, and who 
are the j^redecessors of the present 
generation, held in afTection and grati- 




ins GRACE, ARCHBISHOP WILLIAMS OF BOSTON. 



CATHOLICITY IN WORCESTER. 



tude, William Lincoln the Historian, 
who was their first friend in Worces- 
ter; he quickly recognized their better 
qualities and stood by them in those 
early days when they most needed the 
support of such a friend. He came of 
a distinguished family; the son of Jef- 
ferson's attorney-general ; a brother of 
a Governor of Massachusetts, and 
himself a man of distinguished attain- 
ments, but whose early death ended 
what promised to be a celebrated 
career as a litterateur and scholar in 
history. It was he who came to the 
assistance of the Irish Catholics of 
sixty years ago, few in numbers and 
unknown in the comnumity and with 
no one among themselves of suf^cient 
influence to combat the suspicion and 
hostility that prevailed. He purchased 
the land upon which the first house 
for religious worship for the Catholics 
was erected and immediately turned it 
over to them for this purpose. The 
Catholics of a later day remember 
with affection, as those of to-day 
revere, the memory of Alexander H. 
Bullock, w'ho was their neighbor as 
he was indeed their friend. He, w^ith 
the late lamented idol of Irish hearts 
in this Commonwealth, Judge Mc- 
Cafiferty, the first Catholic to sit upon 
the bench in Massachusetts, and whose 
memory is especially revered by Wor- 
cester Irishmen and their children, 
fought, in opposition to the sentiment 
that then prevailed, in his efforts to 
place the college of the Holy Cross 
upon an equality with other colleges in 
the State. When Governor Bullock, 
then Speaker of the State House of 
Representatives, defended the Catholics 
as good citizens and entitled to the 
same prerogatives as those who dififered 
from them in religious opinion, he did 
what few of the j^olitical leaders of the 
time had the courage to do. Fanati- 
cism prevailed as it never prevailed 
before or since, and he literally took his 
future political life in his hands in a 
cause that he knew was right, though 
unpopular. and which presaged disaster 
to any future political i>rt'frniuMit. 




THIO ],.\1 i; niSHOP O'RKILLY. 

Men who since that time have beconu- 
distinguished in the councils of the 
State and nation were then deepl\ 
immersed in the inner machination>- 
of secret societies who believed, and 
let us trust, honestly, though ignor- 
antly, that the Roman Catholic Church 
w^as a menace to republican institu- 
tions. No wonder that the Catholics 
of Worcester of years ago revere the 
memory of Governor Bullock. A still 
later generation equally respect and 
admire the first citizen of the present 
Massachusetts, Senator Hoar. He. 
too, found the seeds of good citizen- 
ship in them when others doubted, and 
long before he indicated the greatness 
that w'as evidently inherent in him 
and which has since attested his worth 
as one of the foremost statesmen of 
the nation, he proved himself their 
friend ready to sound their praises, as 
he did not hesitate to point out their 
faults, in the public gatherings, where 
they may have come under discussion. 
These men and others, trained on 
similar lines of broad culture and safe 
iudgment, whose ancestors have been 
ideiititicd witli Wdrcester for a him- 



CATHOLICITY IN WORCESTER. 



dred years or more, have been the 
friends of the Irish Cathohcs from the 
time when the first few pioneers came 
in the early thirties. No wonder that 
the Cathohcs of to-day insist that Wor- 
cester is a good city to hve in. They 
have httle reason to think otherwise. 
They have attained an enviable posi- 
tion in the community and their rep- 
resentatives are respected and courted 
by all classes of the people. But what 
they are, they owe to their fathers who 
came here in the early days and whose 
struggles against an active hostility to 
maintain the faith of their fatherland 
can be but dimly realized in these days 
when the Catholic has no such ani- 
mosity to encounter, but is rather 
weighed up on his individual merits 
and without regard to his religious 
belief. To those pioneers without 
whose material aid there would be slow 
progress in building up a Catholic 
sentiment should be accorded praise 
for their many sacrifices. They 
labored under difficulties such as the 
younger generation to-day cannot 
realize; but they never faltered. They 
came of a race that knows better 
perhaps than most other races in the 
world, that the best things in life are 
the glory of God and the salvation of 
men. They gave of their time and 
their money, and little the early set- 
tlers could have had tO' spare; but of 
what they had they gave freely, and 
the first Catholic church in Worcester 
was finally built within a few years 
after these emigrants took up their resi- 
dence in the town. It is related by the 
early settlers, few if any of whom are 
living today, that when it was first 
proposed tO' build a Catholic church it 
caused great excitement among the 
native-born, and expressions of dissat- 
isfaction were freely heard and threats 
of destroying the building were even as 
freelv made — for many of the natives 
looked upon the Irish as something 
akin to barbarians. This feeling of 
alarm and anxiety must have been 
quickly allayed, and probably did not 
dominate the entire community. As 
the Irish began to be understood they 



were received kindly and in those early 
times were encouraged in their strug- 
gle to support themselves and to give 
an education to their children. Dur- 
ing all these years since that time they 
have made every sacrifice for their de- 
scendants while they have clung firmly 
to their religion, an object lesson to 
those about them of the fact that the 
closer they cling to their religion and 
the observance of its rites, the better 
citizens they are. Worcester has to- 
day, in proportion to its entire popu- 
lation, larger numbers of educated 
Catholics of Irish birth or antecedents 
than of any other nationality or creed. 
Catholic lawyers and doctors are 
numerous, exercising a commanding 
influence in the community. Catholics 
are ecjually numerous as instructors of 
youth, and are numbered in every 
iDranch of business, while many places 
of honor and large responsibility are 
creditably filled by them. They have 
their own savings bank; they direct 
one of the best hospitals in the city, 
whose worth is so well recognized that 
Protestants in large numbers seek 
treatment there, and the Catholic Col- 
lege of Holy Cross gives added fame 
to Worcester. In a word, the Catholic 
pioneer of sixty or fifty or even less 
years ago could not have dreamed that 
his efforts and those of the other Irish 
emigrants in Worcester were to bear 
such ample fruit. Catholic citizens of 
to-day owe their present acknowl- 
edged standing to three conditions: the 
sacrifices made by their fathers, not as 
a rule educated men, but possessed of 
that honest pride which is an inherent 
instinct of the race; the opportunities 
for advanced education afforded by a 
Catholic college situated at their door; 
and finally and of greater weight in 
making the Irish Catholics good citi- 
zens and good men, a devoted priest- 
hood, composed with few exceptions 
of men whose lives have been ideal, 
who have carefully watched over and 
guided their flocks and who as a rule 
have held the confidence and respect 
of Protestants and Catholics alike. 
It is more than seventv vears ago 




SUFFRAGAN BISHOPS OF THK AKCI IDIOC'FSK OF BOSTON. 



Rev. Denis M. Bradley. D. D. 
}•; hop of Manchester, N. H. 
Rev. Thos. D. Beaven. D. D. 
Bishop of Springtield, Mass. 



Rt. Rev. Louis De Goesl)riand. D. 
Bishoii of Burlington. V:. 
Rt. Rev. Michael Tierney. D. D. 
Bishop of Hartford. Conn. 



lit. Rev. James A. Healy, D. 

Bishop cf Portland, Me. 
Rl. Rev. Matthew Harkins, D. 
Bishop of Providence, R. I. 



CATHOLICITY IN WORCESTER. 



since the first Catholics came to Wor- 
cester. They were chiefly Irish emi- 
grants who were attracted by the 
building of the Blackstone Canal, 
which promised for central Massachu- 
setts an outlet to the sea by way of 
Providence, Rhode Island. This work 
continued for two years or more and 
many of the laborers remained to settle 



went on the number of Catholics in- 
creased and soon they began to feel 
the need of the ministrations of their 
religion to enable them to combat the 
difficulties surrounding them. They 
keenly felt the need of a priest of God 
to baptize their children and bring to 
their dying the consolation of religion. 
Therefore these humble laborers, who, 




RT. RKV. Mc;ii. THOMAS GRIFFIN, D. D., CHANCEJ.LOR. 



in the town. Later, when the con- 
struction of the Boston and Worces- 
ter Railroad and the western division 
to Albany was begun a much larger 
number came to assist in the work. 
It is universally acknowledged and 
often referred to by public speakers 
that this great project would have 
been much retarded without those 
Irish laborers, since they furnished the 
labor that otherwise, in those times, 
could not have been secured. As time 



through every vicissitude, retained 
their faith, begged Bishop Fenwick, 
whose See embraced all New England, 
to send them a priest, whom they prom- 
ised to assist in every way. But the 
Bishop of this great territory had but 
a little band of helpers and for a time 
could not satisfy the appeal. Within 
a year, however, their request was 
granted, and Father James Fitton 
came one Sunday every month to ofifer 
up for them the Holy Sacrifice of the 



CATHOLICITY IN WORCESTER. 

Mass. He may well be termed the less than seventy years ago. To-day. 
Missionary Priest of New England, instead of the single bishop of those 
Time and again he passed and re- times, six mitred princes of the Church 




SI". I'All.S CHURCH, WORCESTER. 



passed through each of the New Eng- hold spiritual sway and hundreds of 

land States, wherever he thought his priests minister to the wants of the 

priestly ministrations might "be re- people. At least four grand cathedrals 

quired. He was one of the first natives lift their lofty spires to heaven upon 

of Boston to be consecrated with the spots where Eather Fitton preached. 

Holy Oils of ordination, and that was and administered the sacraments to 



CATHOLICITY IN WORCESTER. 



faithful and de\oted bands of Catho- 
lics. Ofttimes with nO' covering but 
the broad canopy of heaven and upon 
a temporary and roughly constructed 
altar he offered up the sacrifice of the 
Mass. His labors were prodigious. 
Cold, hunger, storm, suffering, nothing 
seemed able to stay this saintly man. 
He made the beginning of ten parishes 
in Connecticut, twelve in Massachu- 
setts and others in the different New 
England States. Later, when his unre- 
mitting labors and increasing years 
began to warn him that a life of such 
hardship and activity must cease, he 
was stationed in Boston, where he con- 
tinued his work for the glory of God, 
erecting three churches in that city. 
To his zeal for Catholic education the 
Catholics of Worcester and all New 
England are indebted for the begin- 
ning of that splendid educational in- 
stitution, the College of the Holy 
Cross. This was the character of the 
priest who built the first Catholic 
church in Worcester. He found his 
tiock, though few in numbers, deter- 
mined and anxious to have a church 
of their own. At the first Mass that 
Father Fitton celebrated the sum of 
five hundred dollars was collected to 
form the nucleus of a church fund, a 
remarkable sum in those days and 
probably contributed by less than fifty 
persons. Encouraged by the spirit of 
zeal on the part of his people. Father 
Fitton immediately began to look 
about him to obtain a desirable church 
site. Fie encountered difficulties, 
owing to the objection of some of the 
natives to selling land for such a pur- 
pose as the building of a Catholic 
church; but, as has been stated, the 
spot where the present St. John's 
stands was finally secured through the 
kindly assistance of William Lincoln. 
It was the heart of an old pasture, with 
only a by-path running through it. 
The corner-stone of a small church 
62x32 feet was laid July 7, 1834, and 
was dedicated in 1836, much to the joy 
of the few Catholics of that day. It was 
named Christ Church and it was the 



first church in the now diocese of 
Springfield. It was a modest begin- 
ning and did not presage the remark- 
able growth of Catholicity in Worces- 
ter since that time. Twelve churches 
are now occupied for Catholic wor- 
ship, some of them among the hand- 
somest church structures in the State. 
The "old" St. John's, as the older resi- 
dents affectionately term it, stands to- 
day almost as it stood when it was 
dedicated in 1846, by Right Rev. 
Bishop Fitzpatrick. It succeeded 
Christ Church, which in ten years had 
become too small to accommodate all 
the Catholics in town. It was con- 
sidered an elegant structure in those 
days, as indeed it must have been, for 
it still retains an imposing and solid 
appearance. 

There have been many able and 
eloquent priests connected with this 
parish, among them Rev. John Boyce, 
a distinguished lecturer and a gifted 
writer, who is known to the world 
under the noni de plume of Paul Pep- 
pergrass. 

"Shandy McGuire," one of Father 
Boyce's first literary ventures, at- 
tracted the notice of two continents, 
and was translated into the different 
languages, while the literary world 
predicted for its author a brilliant 
career. Dr. Brownson, in a review of 
this book at the time of its publication, 
assigned to Father Boyce rank as a 
writer above Moore, Griflin or any of 
the Irish writers of that dav. The late 
Bishop O'Reilly has been heard to say 
that he considered Father Boyce when 
at his best, the most eloquent preacher 
he had heard, and in his judgment 
superior to the great Dominican, 
Father Tom Burke. While the out- 
side world knew Father Boyce best as 
a man of extraordinary literarv talents 
and eloquence, his own parishioners in 
St. John's loved him for his holy zeal 
and his boundless acts of charity. His 
name has a lasting place in the mem- 
orv of the Catholics of fortv years ago. 
At his death in 1864 no less than one 
hundred prelates and priests and five 



CATHOLICITY IN WORCESTEK. 



thousand laynuMi were in attendance 
at his fimcral obsequies. 

The late Right Rev. 1'. T. ()d>ieilly. 
D. D., the first bishop of the Spriuij- 
field (Hocese, went out from St. John's 
to assume the labors of his episcopacy. 
He came as an assistant to l'"ather 
Boyce in 1857, just after his own ordi- 
nation to the ]M-iestho()d, and licre. as 



close of his episcopacy a s^-reat diocese 
wlnjse burden he had btjrne so suc- 
cessfully to the control of over two 
hundred loyal, learned and iniited 
priests. 

The eloquent and scholarly rector of 
the Catholic University, Right Rev. 
Thomas J. Conaty, D. "D., served his 
curac\- in this church before he was 




ViCRY HH\-. JOHN J. I'OWKR, V. G. 



curate and priest, zealously and lov- 
ingly, an example of every priestly 
virtue, he labored until his consecra- 
tion in 1870, at the age of thirty-seven 
years, the then youngest bishop in the 
country. IJishop Healy said of him 
that "he found the diocese of wood and 
left it of precious stones." For 
twenty-two years he ruled the diocese 
with wisdom and love, building 
churches, schools, convents. hos])itals 
and oq^hanages, and leaving at the 



appointed to the pastorate of the Sa- 
cred Heart. The permanent rector of 
Chicopee, who did much for the 
younger people of Worcester and who 
is known as a pulpit orator of distin- 
guished attainment, Rev. John J. Mc- 
Coy, also servetl his curacy here, 
as likewise did Rev. Dr. Garri- 
gan, the vice rector of the Catholic 
University. But after all that may be 
said in praise of the others, the priest 
who is best known by the present St. 



CATHOLICITY IN WORCESTER. 



John's people is Mgr. Griffin, D. D., 
the present pastor, who came to St. 
John's fresh from his ordination to 
the Holy Priesthood. This was in 
1867, during the pastorate of the 
late Bishop O'Reilly. "From him 
to whom much has been given 
much will be required" applies with 
peculiar force to Mgr. Grif^n. When 
he succeeded to the charge of St. 
John's he assumed the administra- 
tion of the affairs of the largest parish 
in the Springfield diocese. But he 
added to his priestly labors by the 
erection of the Notre Dame Convent 
School for Girls, the largest school of 
this description in the diocese. He 
later built a school of large propor- 
tion for boys, and planned it to meet 
the needs of six hundred scholars. He 
purchased the estate upon which was 
established in 1893 the House of 
Providence Hospital. In recognition 
of his great labors the Holy Father in 
1889 made Father Griffin a domestic 
prelate, and in the same year he was 
further honored with the Doctorate of 
Divinity by St. Mary's Seminary, Bal- 
timore, where he made his theological 
studies. To quote a prominent rector 
of the Springfield diocese who' for 
eight years served as a curate at St. 
John's: "He is a strong man of clear 
head and honest heart. His learning is 
more solid and serious than showy. 
He is not an orator; but no man of 
the Springfield diocese can talk- 
sounder sense or fill his sermons with 
greater weight of truth's real gold. 
He has had the revenues of a large 
and generous parish for years; yet 
those who know him best know him 
to be a poor man, who has spent his 
means in God's work and is now 
rounding out a good life in ceaseless 
watching of church and school and 
convent and hosijital. 

"Facile princeps!" Priest and lay- 
man, Catholic and Protestant, without 
exception accord this title to the cler- 
gyman longest in continuous service in 
VVorcester, Very Rev. John J. Power, 



D. D., the Vicar General of the dio- 
cese. No man in the community for 
forty years and more has exercised a 
greater influence among the people. 
He is distinguished for his learning, 
and as a pulpit orator has a charm 
and iniluence peculiarly his own. His 
reputation for eloquence is not con- 
fined to his own diocese, and his 
Lenten sermons for many years have 
attracted congregations only limited 
by the capacity of his church. With 
an outer bearing somewhat bordering 
on austerity, to those who know him 
best the simplicity and gentleness that 
always characterize a manly man 
are both shown in him to a marked 
degree. Among the older settlers and 
those of his own congregation he is 
invariably referred to by the most 
aft'ectionate title of Father John. 
Punctuality, truthfulness and honesty 
are three virtues that emphasize them- 
selves with him, and without these no 
one could expect to remain long 
worthy of his esteem. Rev. Dr. 
Power promoted the first public hos- 
pital the city ever knew. He main- 
tains an orphanage now fostered by 
the diocese to some extent, but always 
dependent upon him for support. He 
has been a valuable member of the 
School Committee and a trustee of the 
Public Library, — in all positions a 
credit to himself, the city and the 
Catholic people. His first pastorate 
was St. Anne's, where he remained for 
sixteen years until 1872. In 1869, 
under his direction, was laid the 
corner-stone of St. Paul's Church, 
the finest church in Worcester and the 
most imposing church structure in the 
diocese. Its construction was an un- 
dertaking such as few men would dare 
to assume. Its cost was more than 
$200,000, but to the shrewdness and 
business sagacity for which Dr. Power 
has always been distinguished, this 
magnificent structure now stands abso- 
lutely free from, debt; and the hope of 
his life, as he feelingly expressed it 
when makiii"" the clad announcement 



CATHOLICirV IN WORCESTER. 



a few years ago, has been consuni- 
niated. "Whatever others may do 
after I have gone, with the help of 
God, St. Paul's shall never again dur- 
ing my pastorate be burdened with 
debt," was what he said to his congre- 
gation, and it is absolutely safe to say 
that this will prove true. His whole 
life has been to his people a lesson of 



every action breathes of kindness, and 
he is as much beloved by his people 
as he is esteemd by his associates. He 
is the founder of the new St. Anne's 
Church, whose corner-stone was laid 
in 1885. Next to St. Paul's it is the 
most commanding Catholic Church in 
Worcester. Its cost was about $80,000 
and its seating capacity is 1,200. In 




RKV. JOHX ilOYCK (.Paul Peppergrass). 



avoiding obligations difficult to meet 
and of living within their means. 

When Dr. Power, after a sixteen 
years' pastorate, left St. Anne's for the 
new St. Paul's, he was succeeded by 
Rev. Dennis Scannell, who had served 
the few years of his curacy with him. 
No priest in the diocese is more be- 
loved by his associates than is Father 
Scannell. As gentle as a child, his 



1895 Father Scannell celebrated the 
twenty-fifth anniversary of his ordina- 
tion to the priesthood, upon which 
occasion the people of Worcester, 
without regard to creed, united in pre- 
senting him a testimonial such as had 
never before been bestowed upon any 
pastor in Worcester. The fourth 
oldest pastor in point of service is 
Rev. Robert Walsh, who organized 



CATHOLICITY IN WORCESTER. 




RKV. BANIEL F. McfMLLICUDDV. 

and has been the only pastor of the 
Church of the Immaculate Concep- 
tion. The corner-stone of this church 
was laid in 1873, ^^"d it is the church 
of the Catholic people of the north 
end of the city. Father Walsh is not 
an ostentatious man, but like his con- 
freres who have seen the Catholic 
population increase and multiply, he is 
beloved and held in affection by his 
])eople. 

Rev. Dr. Power, Mgr. Grif^n, 
Father Scannell and Father Walsh are 
the four pastors around whom cluster 
the memories of the earlier Worcester 
Catholicity as it is known to-day, and 
there are probably no four pastors in 
any community who have served their 
people for a longer number of years 
or who are more beloved for the good 
they have accomplished. They have 
been safe counsellors and advisers to 



those under their spiritual care, and 
their names will be indelibly associated 
with their churches long after they 
have gone from their temporal pos- 
sessions to their eternal reward. Few 
pastors can point to such long-con- 
tinued service in one city: Dr. Power, 
with forty years to his credit; Mgr. 
Griffin, thirty years; Father Scannell 
and Father \\'alsh with almost an 
equal number. What a lesson for 
good this in itself contains. The first 
pastor of the younger generation in 
Worcester is one who has given fame 
to the entire city. Rt. Rev. Dr. 
Conaty served both his curacy and his 
pastorship in this community. Of 
late years honors have crowded them- 
selves upon him. At a banquet given 
at his elevation to the rectorship of the 
Catholic University, and which was 
attended by the most distinguished 
citizens of Worcester, he took occa- 
sion to say that he should always claim 
Worcester as his home. Dr. Conaty 
was the first pastor of the Church of 
the Sacred Ileart. It is needless to 
say that his reputation is national. He 
is now a priest for quarter of a cen- 
tury. From the beginning he has been 
a public man. Prominent in every 
movement in church and state long 
before he became the director of 
higher Catholic education in this re- 
public, his friendship was courted by 
statesmen of eminence in the nation. 
The city proudly claims him as one of 
its sons, and Protestant as well as 
Catholic is glorified by the high 
honors that have come to him. 

Next in point of service among the 
Catholic pastors is Rev. D. H. O'Neil, 
who came to W^orcester as a young- 
curate more than twenty-five years 
ago. He built St. Peter's Church in 
1884 and has been its only pastor. The 
remaining Irish Catholic church is St. 
Stephen's, whose territory was cut off 
from St. John's in 1887. The pastor, 
Rev. Daniel F. McGillicuddy, is Wor- 
cester born, bred and educated. He is 
the youngest Catholic pastor in point 



CATHOLICITY IN WORCESTER. 



of years in the city, lie is not so 
young, however, but that he is already 
(hstinguished as a man of much abiUty 
and sound financial judgment. He is 
not so much an orator as he is a man 
of capacity and able management. He 
is active in the temperance movement 
and is at present the president of the 
temperance societies of the diocese. 
With the exception of his predecessor 
at St. Stephen's, Father jMcClillicuddy 
is the only Worcester man a pastor in 
the home of his boyhood. Of the re- 
maining Catholic churches in Worces- 
ter, three are devoted to the people of 
h>ench nationality, one for the Ital- 
ians and one for the Poles. 

In mercantile and professional life 
men of Celtic birth and ancestry have 
made a satisfying progress in Worces- 
ter, and this has been specially striking 
during the past twenty years. In 
1877, just a generation ago, there were 
not over three Catholic physicians in 
the entire city, and no larger number 
of lawyers. Xow, of 176 practicing" 
physicians of all schools. Catholics 
claim 35; and of tii lawyers in prac- 
tice 26 are Catholics. This large and 
rapid increase in the professions has 
not come from recent emigration, as 
it represents almost, if not entirely, 
those native born; but it is rather be- 
cause the Irish are a race that obey 
the Biblical injunction to increase and 
multiply. This lesson of a twenty 
years' increase in the number of 
Catholic professional men indicates 
somewhat the probabilities of the 
future. But no calculation of Catho- 
lic progress now and hereafter ought 
to be made without pausing to con- 
sider the great debt that the present 
generation owes to its ancestors; not 
so much for what they as a class 
achieved, but rather for what they 
made it possible for the present gener- 
ation to achieve. They laid the foun- 
dation, slow indeed at first, for the 
education of their children; and while 
they came without means and with a 
limited education themselves, they 
did possess the one essential of good 



citizenship, subnnssion to authority. 
The early Irish emigrants in Worces- 
ter, if they were rich in nothing else, 
might claim an abundance of faith, 
and that faith taught them submission 
to Divine authority, to the law of 
God, and submission to the consti- 
tuted authorities of the land. In the 
earlier years of their residence it is 
not sur])risng that most of their chil- 
dren who received the training of a 
higher education followed in the foot- 
steps of the Apostles in teaching their 
people how to live, to create and foster 
morality and to attain the maximum 
degree of human happiness. 

Worcester Irishmen have given to 
the holy vocation of the priesthood not 
less than sixty of theirsons — a remark- 
able showing for so short a space of 
time, but not more remarkable than 
the advancement made by their chil- 
dren on other lines. They are repre- 
sented among the civil engineers, the 
chemists, the dentists and the elec- 
tricians. They have their young men 
high in journalism and among the 
most influential of W'orcester news- 
paper men. In mercantile life many 
have attained much success in a small 
way, but in the larger field of trade, 
finance and manufacture they are as 
yet almost without representation. 
Based on the Catholic population, 
wealth and progress, this is not as it 
should be. But with the results 
achieved in other directions and profit- 
ing by the lessons learned, the Catho- 
lics of Worcester may reasonably hop.' 
for a participation in these great inter- 
ests in the coming years. 

A ])ricf review of Catholic prog- 
ress in Worcester would be incomplete 
without a reference to the Catholic 
Hos])ital of St. Mncent's. Its situation 
is one of the best in W^orcester for hos- 
pital purposes. Covering eight acres 
of ground, it occupies as healthful and 
connnanding a site as could be de- 
sired. It is under the direction of a 
connnunity of the Sisters of Provi- 
dence, whose mother house is located 
at Tlohoke. They have no permanent 



CATHOLICITY IN WORCESTER. 



fund or endowment. It is not secta- 
rian and is largely patronized by Prot- 
estants as well as Catholics. 

Worcester Catholics are proud, as 
they have reason to be, of their Catho- 
lic military company. The Emmet 
Guards were organized more than 
forty years ago as a part of the militia 
of Massachusetts, but when fanaticism 
was rife, they, in connection with other 
Catholic companies, were disbanded by 
order of the State authorities; but this 
did not by any means quell their patri- 
otic spirit, and when the call to arms 
was sounded in 1861 they were among 
the first to volunteer their services in 
defense of the f^ag. From their ranks 
were furnished no less than thirty-two 
commissioned ofificers, a noble record 
and one perhaps not exceeded by 
many companies during the rebellion. 
This company is perpetuated in the 



Massachusetts militia of to-day by the 
sons of these men, and occupies a high 
place for its ef^ciency. 

Besides the Washington Club, Wor- 
cester has many Catholic organizations. 
They include a council of the Knights of 
Columbus, a temperance organization 
in almost every parish and a number 
of divisions of the Ancient Order of 
Hibernians. They have their chari- 
table societies, their Catholic Truth so- 
cieties, and their Leagues of the Sacred 
Heart, all doing good, each in its own 
particular sphere. 

In conclusion, I might reiterate 
what I emphasized in the beginning: 
Worcester is a good place to live in. 
And this thriving, growing, industri- 
ous inland city owes its present pros- 
perity to nO' portion of its people more 
than it does to those of the Catholic 
faith. 




ST. JOHN'S BOYS' SCHOOL, WORCESTER. 
ERECTED BY RT. REV. THOMAS GRI FPIN, D. D. 



A PROSPEROUS CATHOLIC CLUB IN CENTRAL 
MASSACHUSETTS. 

By JOHN J. RIORDAN, A. M. 



There is no social organization in 
Worcester better or more favorably 
known than the Washington Club. 
For the past fifteen years it has been 
distinctively the leading Catholic so- 
ciety among the young men in the 
city, and it has always been notable for 
the scholarly attainments and versatile 
accomplishments of its members. Its 
theatrical productions which it occa- 
sionally presents at the Worcester 
Theatre are sure to attract the elite of 
the city, while its banquets and social 
gatherings are famed for their literary 
and social merit. It includes not one 
or two orators, but a score of brilliant 
speakers; and in years gone by every 
Catholic singer, almost without ex- 
ception, has been found upon its roll 
of membership. Under such circum- 
stances it is not strange that the Wash- 
ington Club should be considered one 
of the controlling centres of the social 
and intellectual well-being of Worces- 
ter. It was organized in October, 
1882, and incorporated in 1884. Its 
coming into existence was not the 
result of mature deliberation, nor was 
it because there was felt to be any need 
of such a society for the fuller enjoy- 
ment of social acquaintanceship. It was 
only a chance thought (suggested by 
a passing event) that led to its forma- 
tion. A young man, one of a party 
of four,* gathered in social converse, 

*These fovn- young men were Jno. J. 
Riordan, the first president of the club; 
James F. Guerin, the first secretary; 
Lawrence W. Lehy, the first treasurer, 
and M. F. Heffern. a member of the first 
board of directors, and later a secretary 
of the organization. 



expressed the opinion that a closer 
afhhation among a few young men, 
already closely bound together, might 
increase the happiness and pleasure of 
all. Acting ujjon this suggestion and 
without a smgle thouglit mat tliis or- 
ganization would be anything more 
than the binding more closely of a few 
congenial spirits, the promoters of the 
club called a meeting of those who 
would probably give an endorsement 
to the project. It began with an en- 
rollment of seventeen, which formed 
the nucleus of the present membership 
of one hundred and forty. The begin- 
ning was humble, as befitted an organ- 
ization of modest means and of youth- 
ful members, the age of its promoters, 
with few exceptions, being under 
twenty-one years ; but it has grown and 
flourished, spreading out and extend- 
ing its influence. The Washington 
Club was not the first organization 
among Catholic young men in Worces- 
ter to be noticed for the prominence of 
its members. It had a creditable prede- 
cessor in the Grattan Literary Society, 
which in its time included most of the 
Catholic young men of a literary turn 
of mind, and among whose members 
could be found more men in propor- 
tion to its membership who later 
entered the professions than probably 
anv similar organization in the Com- 
monwealth. Many of the present 
Catholic pastors in the Springfield 
Diocese were in their early Worcester 
days numbered as Grattans. It gradu- 
ated lawvers and physicians who have 
since become famous, but at the 
organization of the \\'a<hington it was 



ir.lSHJNCTON CLi'B. 




run, IP J. (('('oxxKLL. 

Philip J. O'ConnclI, LL. B.. who is now 
president of the Wasliington Chib, was born 
in Worcester in i8;o. Irle graduated from 
the High School in 1889, and after a few 
years in business, entered the Boston Uni- 
versity Law School, where he graduated 
LL. B. in 1895. He immediately entered 
upon the practice of law in Worcester, and 
has already built up a lucrative business. 
He was elected a member of the City Gov- 
ernment in 1895, and re-elected for two 
years in 1896, and is considered the leader 
of the Democrats in that body. Mr. O'Con- 
nell is a forceful speaker and a ready de- 
bater, and has a promising career before 
him. 



])ractica]]\- merged into it and soon 
afterwards passed ottt of existence. 

'Iliough the mcml)crship of the clul) 
is made up exclusively of men of the 
Catholic faith, it docs not and never 
has fliscussed relii^ious questions 
wiihin its doors. Its members have at 
all times stood ready to lend a helping- 
hand to anv charitable cause, both in- 



dividually and collectively, and this 
willingness has been often put to a 
test; but the club makes no claim of 
heing^ beneficent in its purposes. Poli- 
tics are proscribed and a member's 
l)olitical opinions are no criterion of 
his good fellowship. During all these 
years of vigorous, active life the only 
standard by which a])])licants for ad- 
mission have been judged is their 
honesty in their dealings with their 
fellow-man and their respectability and 
])ro]jity of character. Perhaps this 
simple requirement has made the 
Washington Club the successful or- 
ganization that it has proved itself 
to be. 

While it is in no sense a boat- 
ing club it maintains a handsome and 
commodious clubhouse at Lake Ouin- 
sigamond. the water resort of Worces- 




JOHN J. RTORDAN. A. M. 
First President. 1SS2 to 1.SS3; IS85 to 1S86 



IV A SHINGrON CLUB. 



ter people. This lake nestles between 
the Worcester and Shrewsbury hills 
and is as delightful a sheet of water 
as can be found in the State. From 
end to end, for six miles, it stretches 
alon"- through var\in^- scenery beauti- 



being practically split in the middle, 
which forbids a straightaway course 
for rowing. A movement recently 
undertaken to substitute a suspension 
bridge for the present roadbed prom- 
ises to make this one of the four- 




WASHINGTON Cl.i;U HOUSE AT LAKH g 11 NSU i A:M0XD. 



ful to contemplate. At its widest 
point it is, from shore to shore, 
about three-fourths of a mile in width. 
Here Harvard and Yale, a score of 
years ago, rowed their annual cham- 
pionship races; but for a number of 
years few important rowing events 
iiave taken place, owing to the course 



mile rowing courses of the country. 
At the present time there are a full 
dozen clubhouses on the shores of this 
magnificent sheet of water, and most 
of tliem of elaborate proportions; but 
when the Washingtons decided to 
locate a summer home in 1886, only 
one clubhouse was to be Um\u(\ there. 



WASHINGTON CLUB. 




MARK F. COSGROVE. 

Mark F. Cosgrove, ilie third president 
of the Washington Club, is one of Wor- 
cester's prosperous business men. He has 
always been identified with the shoe trade 
since leaving school, and for the past five 
years has been ])roprietor of one of the 
leading shoe stores of the city. He was 
the first Grand Knight of Worcester Coun- 
cil of the Knights of Columbus, and he is 
also a member of the American Order of 
Foresters. 

In 1887 the clubhouse was erected, and 
here the members are wont to g'ather 
in goodly numbers during the sum- 
mer months, after the business of the 
day is over. The club grounds com- 
prise an acre of land on the Shrews- 
bury side, with an uninterrupted view 
extending for three-quarters of a mile. 
This retreat is accessible by steamer, 
but not as readily reached by those 
who might come to the lake for a day's 
outing. The clubhouse was erected at 
an expense of over $4,000 and has 
been arldcd to and greatly improved. 
It was planned entirely for social pur- 



poses and, with its broad verandas, 
affords an excellent place for the mem- 
bers to enjoy both the beautiful 
scenery of hills and woodland and the 
cool sunniier breezes which come 
down the lake at this, one of its broad- 
est j)arts. The interior is all that a 
social club could desire. The first 
floor is given up to an extensive lobby, 
the dining-room, kitchen, lavatory and 
lockers for the members. The upper 
portion, where during the summer 
season many important social func- 
tions are held, includes a large assem- 
1ily room and sleeping apartments for 
those members who make the club- 
house their home during this portion 
of the year. The bathing facilities are 
the best. Many of the members come 
especially for this recreation, and after 
enjoying a ciuiet lunch easily return to 
the city in the early evening for social 
or other engagements. 

The city quarters of the club, prac- 
tically from the beginning up to a 
year ago, were located on Front 
Street, opposite the Central Park in 
\\^orcester and near the centre of busi- 
ness. They were commodious and 
elegantly decorated. Handsomely fur- 
nished, they attracted the members in 
large numbers during the fall, winter 
and spring months. They comprised 
a parlor of extensive proportions, an 
assembly room and a billiard and pool 
room. 

Few Catholic men of any promi- 
nence who have visited Worcester in 
the last ten years have failed to visit 
these rooms, while the impromptu 
spreads in their honor have been nu- 
merous and enjoyable, notably those 
which have been given to Irishmen 
who have lectured in Worcester in the 
Irish cause, and those given to Ameri- 
can actors of Irish antecedents who 
have appeared in theatrical perform- 
ances. 

The club rooms were moved to a 
Main Street building in November a 
year ago. Quarters were specially pre- 
pared and fitted for its use and were 



WASHINGTON CLUB. 



luxuriously furnished, but a disastrous 
fire in the early part of the present 
year literally razed the building to the 
Sfround, totally destrovins; evervthinof. 



Street, which it has handsomely deco- 
rated and refurnished. At one of the 
recent anniversary celebrations the ora- 
tor of the evening, in a descriptive 




JAMES F. GUERIN. 



James F. Guerin was born in Worcester 
in 1862. After completing his education 
in the public schools, he entered the drug 
business and for ten years past has been 
one of the leading druggists of Worcester. 
He is a prominent member of the Maissa- 
chusetts State Pharmaceutical Association, 
and is now serving his third year as Sec- 
retary of that Board. He is an ex-Presi- 
dent of St. Anne's Temperance Society, and 
was a leading member of the Worcester 



School Board for 'six years from 1887-1893, 
being one of the youngest men ever elected 
to that body. Mr. Guerin was the prime 
mover in organizing the Washingtons, 
serving as secretary for four years, as vice- 
president one year; and president two years, 
1887-1889. He is also a member of the 
American Order of Foresters and of the 
A. O. H., is a trustee of St. Vincent's Hos- 
pital, and has been identified with all Cath- 
olic movements of late years in Worcester. 



and with it went all the valuable pos- 
sessions of the Washingtons. including 
costly paintings and elegant memen- 
toes presented by other organizations. 
The club has just entered into new 
quarters in the building erected on the 
site of its former rooms on Main 



review, among other good things, 
said: 

"A city thrives and prospers in 
proportion to the number of skilled 
artisans it contains and in the means 
of employment it furnishes for them. 
How much more strongly can this be 



ll\ISII/\GTON CLUB. 




men have organized clul)s patterned 
after the Washington, and it is a 
])leasure to contemplate that our repu- 
tation has not confined itself to our 
own city, but has extended its influ- 
ence throughout the State. In all the 
vears of our existence I do not think- 
that the club has taken a backward 



THOMAS J. BARRETT. 

Thomas J. Barrett, D. D. S., is a grad- 
uate of tlie Worcester schools and of the 
Philadelphia Dental College. He has been 
in practice as a dentist in Worcester for the 
pa;t twelve years, and is very prominent 
in his profession. He was appointed by 
the late Governor Russell a member of the 
State Board of Dentistry, and re-appointed 
by Governor Wolcott. Dr. Barrett has 
been frequently mentioned for political 
office, but has always refused to be con- 
sidered in that respect. He was the fourth 
president of the Washingtons, is president 
of the Wapiti Club, a member of the Elks, 
the Clover Club in Boston, and of many 
other organizations. 

said of an organization which em- 
braces active minds educated in many 
different directions, where all meet 
upon a conunon basis and where each 
may glean from those about him. 
When we remember that our member- 
ship is greatly varied it is little to be 
wondered at after all that we have pros- 
pered and have so much to be thankful 
for. Tn other cities voung Catholic 




M. J. P. McCAFFERTY. 

M. J. P. McCafferty, the sixth president 
of the Washingtons. has been identified 
with Worcester interests since leaving 
school. He is the agent and superinten- 
dent of the Worcester Cycle Manufacturing 
Co., and previously the manager of the 
Worcester Steel Works. For twelve years 
from 1883 to 1895, Mr. McCafferty was a 
member of the Worcester School Board, 
serving for more than half of that period 
as the chairman of the important com- 
mittee on Evening Schools, and is a trus- 
tee of St. Vincent's Hospital. Mr. Mc- 
Cafferty is a nephew of the late Judge Mc- 
Cafferty, and is a man of sterling worth, 
possessing the confidence of the entire com- 
munity. 



jun 



13 1907 



WASHINGTON CLUB. 



/ ' ^'■ 




EDWARD J. McMAUdX. 

Edward J. McMahon, LL. B., graduated 
from the Worcester High School in 1881 
and from the Boston University Law 
School in 1885, LL. B., cum laude. He has 
been in practice in Worcester since that 
time, and he has built up a large and lucra- 
tive clientage. He was a member of the 
Worcester City Government from 1889 to 
1893, and was the Democratic leader in 
that body, serving on the most important 
committees. He has been the nominee of 
his party for District Attorney. Clerk of 
Courts nnd Senator for his district. He is 
well known as an orator of exceptional 
force and delivered the addresis in behalf 
of the laymen at the St. John's Parish Jubi- 
lee celebration, and he has frequently ap- 
peared as a public speaker. Mr. McMahon 



was the eighth president of the Washing- 
ton Club. He is a Past Chancellor of the 
Knights of Columbus, a member of the 
A. O. H. and of the B. P. O. Elks, and is 
one of the most prominent of Worcester's 
younger citizens. 

step. We have had the confidence 
and respect of our friends durhig 
these years, and never for a moment 
has there been any doubt of our retain- 
ing it, nor has it been even remotely 
suggested, as it has been so often 
said of social chibs, that the young 
man crossing our portals 'leaves him- 
self open to serious danger of con- 
tamination.' " 

The minstrel performances, which 
were annual events for years, were 
the social events of Worcester. The 
club beyond most organizations is 
gifted with writers, singers and ama- 
teur actors, many of whom would 
adorn the professional boards. It has 
just entered upon the sixteenth year 
of its existence and gives promise of 
flourishing and continuing an import- 
ant factor in the Heart of the Com- 
monwealth for an indefinite number of 
years to come. The list of presidents 
upon whose shoulders has rested the 
responsibility of conducting the club's 
affairs incltides the names of many 
gentlemen wdio are among the promi- 
nent citizens of Worcester. In the 
order of election thev are as follows: 
John T. Riordan, 1882-83, 1885-86: 
John J. Casey, 1883-85; Mark F. Cos- 
grove, 1886-87: James F. Guerin. 
1887-89: Thomas j. Barrett, 1889-91: 
M. J. P. McCafiferty, 1891-92; Patrick 
O'Day, 1892-93; Edward J. McMahon, 
1893-94; Edmund J. Somers, 1894-95; 
John B. Ratigan, 1895-96; Thomas 
H. I^all, 1896-97; I^hilip J. O'Con- 
nell, iS97. 



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